Roof Rack

ANYTHING FROM BUFFING YOUR PAINT TO REPLACING A DASH PANEL

Topic author
Mark C.
I get chills without my van.
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:35 pm

Re: Roof Rack

Post by Mark C. »

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Getting the factory rack off was a treat. Four spun riv-nuts. Drilled off heads,cut flush with grinder.
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How am I doin!

Topic author
Mark C.
I get chills without my van.
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:35 pm

Re: Roof Rack

Post by Mark C. »

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Pretty much eye-balled where I wanted them,decided to go outboard of original rack,mostly because I didn't want to grind out and seal old riv-nuts. I will do that later. Riv-nuts called for a 3/8 hole,I went down to 11/32 cause thats what I could find. Painted holes with nail polish and sunk first riv nut,screwed it down and marked other holes.
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Tracks came with campershell style foam tape,once stuck to track I pushed hardware thru,held in place. Applied plenty of silicone and screwed them down.

Topic author
Mark C.
I get chills without my van.
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:35 pm

Re: Roof Rack

Post by Mark C. »

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Here is how I did.
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I am gonna need different Thule towers for the tracks,a pay check or two away,might steel wifeys.

LiftedAWDAstro
I have my van tatooed on my cheeks
Posts: 4379
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 3:35 pm
Location: New Haven, NY

Re: Roof Rack

Post by LiftedAWDAstro »

Looking good so far! Too bad your van wasn't like mine with no roof rack.
Current rides:
2013 Toyota Tundra DC 4x4
2008 Dodge Nitro 4x4
2005 Nissan Sentra 1.8S Special Edition

Mileage spreadsheet

Vans owned:
1986 Safari 2.5L 4 speed manual - scrapped
1995 Astro 2WD conversion 4.11 posi, shift kit, DHC rock rails - sold to Skippy
1998 Astro 4x4 D44, D60, NP231, full hydraulic system with 9k# Milemarker winch and snow plow - sold to Lockdoc
2003 Astro AWD all stock - traded for a 3/4 ton truck
2005 AWD, 4.10's - sold to skippy

Topic author
Mark C.
I get chills without my van.
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:35 pm

Re: Roof Rack

Post by Mark C. »

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Only took overnight to decide to rob wifeys towers,fits good,a lot less deflection of roof when I pull on bars.
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davlafont
I am merely driving my van
I am merely driving my van
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2012 1:07 pm
Location: Northern NJ

Re: Roof Rack

Post by davlafont »

Mark C. wrote:Tracks came with campershell style foam tape...
Great bit of info. I don't think they mention this on their site.

The channel-Thule set-up looks great. Thanks for the details!
Dave
1999 GMC Safari SLE
AWD | G80 | 3.73

Topic author
Mark C.
I get chills without my van.
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:35 pm

Re: Roof Rack

Post by Mark C. »

The Rivnuts installed have a head or collar that is proud of the sheetmetal,most tracks have a plastic base gasket not foam. I decided to take foam tape out and I made a plastic base for the tracks. I had no luck at local hardware store,ended up using ski base material. Any thing as thick as the riv colar. If u look close at the last picture you can see white plastic under track,lots of silicone, plastic is not sealing like the foam was.

Topic author
Mark C.
I get chills without my van.
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:35 pm

Re: Roof Rack

Post by Mark C. »

More base gasket ideas! I was picking up my dog at the tile/granite shop my wife works at when I noticed a roll of heavy gauge rubber like material. Turns out its shower pan liner! Looks like a layer or two of that might be a good alternative to the camper foam.Stiffer and somewhat self sealing.I got enough to screw around with but will be waiting for good weather again.I like the plastic bases I made but ski base material might be hard for others to find,if the pan liner works better than the foam it is readily available.I guess I should mention when I first installed the tracks with the camper foam the foam is a lot thicker than the rivnut collar so it wanted to volcano the sheet metal,I added a washer and got a really good fit,no volcano flush foam contact. I was satisfied,then started lookin at yakima tracks on wifeys 4runner,and thinkin about how little success I have had with camper foam in the past and I wanted something better.The foam would probably have lasted the life of the van but that would have been too easy,and if I wanted easy I would have stuck with toyota :muhaha:Excuse me if that qualifies as joking around! Also I would like to point out this shower pan liner is a six foot wide roll and is sold by the foot,wife says poly/vinyl,seems really durable and might have a lot of other Van type uses!
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